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Walden University Representative (0:00)
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Mythology Expert (0:30)
The Rest of the Story There is a whole history of myths and their meaning meaningless unless you're fascinated with ancient Greek and Roman folklore. But for the Olympus which was not, and for all of the Olympian miracles that never were, there is one ancient Greek God, Dionysus, the God of fertility, who not only served the ancient Greeks, but in modern times he is still serving us. The influence of ancient Greek and Roman mythology can be detected in the farthest reaches of literature, the arts, even history. And that's why we study it. That's why it's still taught in schools. But believing in mythology, one would be hard pressed to find a modern Greek or Roman who actually believes in the ancient stories. But one one of those stories is true. Dionysus is the Greek God of fertility. It was said that even the crudest representation or image of Dionysus got results. And it did. And it still does. Now hold on a second. Let's get settled in on one or two things. Appeasing Apollo will not make the sun come out. We know this. Nor will deifying Diana change the course of the moon. We know this. In fact, there's anthropological disagreement as to whether or not the latter day ancients believed it either. But they did believe in Dionysus, the God of fertility, because they had proof. And so do we. As incredulous as it sounds, in this age of all science, science, the likeness of Dionysus does exactly what it's supposed to do. Again, we're not talking about some vague influence. I suppose one might say that there would be no tomorrow were it not for the ancient God Saturn, after whom we name Saturday. And while we're on this etymological tangent, let's look at some of the other word origins. January even. Janitor from the gatekeeper God Janus, Marshall from Mars, the God of war, Volcano from Vulcan, the fiery God of the forge, Cereal from Ceres, the goddess of grain, Mercurial from the fleet, messenger God Mercury and museum. Well, the muses inspired poets and musicians, remember? So I suppose you could say that the gods are still with us, still influencing our daily lives. In some small way. But Dionysus, aha, the God of fertility. That, well, that is another story. He made good, and he's still making good on all of the promises made in his behalf. In fact, of all of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses who centuries ago fell into word derivatives and practical obscurity, Dionysus actually worked for the ancients. And he is working for us today. For you see, while many ancient Greeks were pleading with Poseidon for a safe ocean voyage and drowning anyway, the ancient Greek farmers were erecting images of the fertility God Dionysus in their farm fields. And sure enough, in the fall, there were bigger and there were more bountiful harvests than ever. Over the years, it was proved and reproved that even the clumsiest patchwork likeness of Dionysus, you place it at the end of your row of corn, it'll get results. You'll have more and better corn. But while they thought their God gave fertility to the soil, the fact was his image was providing protection for their crops. And to this day, we imitate their highly successful practice practice with what we call the scarecrow. And now you know the rest of the story.